


It's not rigged!

by urisarang



Series: Broskis [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alexei Lives, Alexei POV, Angst with a Happy Ending, Badass Joyce, Badass Murray, Being a scientist in the USSR, Billy Hargrove Lives, Fix-It, Gen, He relies on translations unless it is simple words, Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives, Nerd turned hero, just this once everybody lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 02:39:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19803010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urisarang/pseuds/urisarang
Summary: Life is not easy for the lead scientist of a super top secret project ran by the USSR on America soil of all places.  In fact, one could say its utter shit.But days like today?  Where the former soviet gets to run around a fair and experience what life is like for the other side.  To see and experience first hand what it means to be American?  Not a bad day by a long shot.Of course that is when the boogeyman appears to ruin his day after only getting to visit two stalls of the fair, good thing it just ruins the day and doesn't end it.(Alexei doesn't die and changes how the story ends when the three person team becomes four)





	It's not rigged!

**Author's Note:**

> I thought this was going to be a 2k quick fix it. 3 days of screwed up sleep later. . .
> 
> Boy was I ever wrong.

Alexei wanders about the county fair with a childish wonder. Bright explosions of light, all the colors in the rainbow dance in his eyes, a sight he never could have imagined seeing before this night. 

Life, as he has known it in the USSR, was grey and muted. The communist state pooled resources together for the greater good of all, but at the cost of growing up with toys being hand me downs. Children were raised in well worn clothing, and a general lack of bright colors in everyday life.

Americans, Alexei has come to find out after being kidnapped(rescued?) from the underground bunkers, are all so bright and wasteful with their wealth. At first it made the Russian scientist ill to witness this 'great' country's people wasting so much resources on trifle things. 

He watches children running around with out a care in the world celebrating the birth of their country by lighting money on fire and watching it burn. Not literally of course, but metaphorically, the sheer cost of all the fire works going off around him is staggering. The USSR had its own celebrations that drained expenses, but they were state governed. All actions had to be sanctioned, watched, and controlled.

Nothing like the wild event going on around Alexei right now. His brown eyes cast about the grounds and there are no police, no government officials around to watch this celebration. To control it.

And yet this event is going well, no disaster in sight without the strict control his government preached the need for day and night.

No wonder his country was so desperate for the dimensional doorway to work, they are clearly losing this cold war. Would lose it entirely this very night if its people could see the other side. It's infectious freedom would spread in their comrades' hearts sure as it spread through Alexei's own.

Shaking his head the scientist clears such thoughts from his head so he may enjoy and experience first hand more of America. Murray had given him little slips of paper he can only assume are another form of currency, perhaps similar to meal tickets, and set him loose on the Fun Fair by himself.

The level of trust the other man places in him fills his chest with warmth. 

Wasting no time, for there is no guarantee that any of them will survive the night and their foolhardy plan bred from American action movies, Alexei moves to the first game stall to catch his attention:

Darts.

He had always enjoyed darts from a young age and was quite good at them. He watches for a few minutes as a few children play to catch this stall's particular rules. He may not understand their language but he is a clever man and quickly picks up that the different colored balloons have different score values.

Confident in his understanding of the game he steps up and offers up one ticket to play. Darts is all about precision, and a careful calculation of how much power to throw the dart at to hit an intended target. Calculating trajectories to hit a target as large as a green balloon? Child's play.

The stall never stood a chance.

Pop, pop, pop, pop! Goes the first four balloons, the easiest thing Alexei has done in years. He turns to give a young boy a high five next to him as the excitement of the fair takes hold of him

Pop! Goes the fifth and final balloon and the crowd of children cheers. Many more hands rise up to be high-fived and Alexei obliges happily. The stall worker asks him a question and Alexei simply points to the giant stuffed woodpecker as his choice of a prize. The man hands Alexei his prize and a bright smile breaks over the scientist's face. 

It wasn't rigged! Maybe another stall will be rigged, perhaps not all are so that the people will not figure it out and continue to spend money at the stalls.

Ever the scientist, Alexei quickly moves on to another stall to test if that one is rigged. This one has water guns, clown faces and balloons. 

It's even easier than the one before it as its set up to pit players against one another rather than a specific goal. The choices of prizes are noticeably smaller than that of the other game but as the Russian defector has next to nothing to his name now he's happy to get anything. 

He chooses a red, white, and blue themed flask with a grin. He must show this to Murray, proof that he was wrong about it being rigged!

Alexei looks around the fair and follows the smell of food so he might find his unlikely friend. He doesn't have to look long before spotting the balding man at the front of the line with food in his hands.

"Murray!" He calls out getting the other man's attention. "Look!" He calls out with a wave.

"It's not rigged!" Murray's face breaks into a big smile, "It's not rigged!" Alexei repeats with boyish joy as he practically bounces on his feet in delight making his way towards the other man and the promise of more American food. 

That's when he sees him. Grigori.

The man who killed the last lead scientist on the project, his friend. The man who made it more than clear the year before that he would enjoy killing Alexei when he failed. 

He stops, rooted to the spot and time seems to slow as death stalks towards him. The smile slides right off Alexei's face, his heart lurches in his throat at the sight of the silenced pistol. The pistol slowly raising up to aim at him.

In his peripheral he notices with morbid fascination that Murray's smile has slipped away too. Its not important. A trivial detail considering his life is about to come to a bloody end, but for some reason his mind chooses to notice it. 

Perhaps it an attempt to focus on something other than his death that is only a few heart beats away. 

One beat, and then another before there is a soft pop. The sound of his death should stand out, it should matter. 

But it doesn't. 

It could easily pass for the popping of one of the many balloons around the fair. Could even be the popping of a balloon at the very first stand he visited. Grigori walks past him without a change in pace nor expression, the professional cold killer that he is. 

"Traitor" He says just loud enough for Alexei's ears as he passes by.

The scientist clutches the roadrunner to his abdomen. Where he was shot. Where he will bleed out from. He holds no hope that he can stave off death, hollow point rounds are a favorite of men like Grigori. The way they unfold inside a person to achieve maximum damage, to cause massive internal bleeding that the roadrunner cannot save him from.

He falls to his knees in shock even as the American calls out his name. The world blurs around him, the lights trail into lines and the sounds around him dull. 

This is it. This is how his journey ends. 

A life full of hunger and thirst and he dies with just a taste of freedom on his tongue. It's a fitting end for a traitor to the USSR; killed the moment he foolishly let himself believe he could be free.

A weight crashes into his side drawing his attention. Murray stares back at him with fear in his eyes. 

"Alexei! What happened?! Are you okay?" He calls out rapidly in the scientist's native tongue despite his panic. 

"S-s-shot." Alexei looks down at the roadrunner that covers where the bullet hole will be. Murray follows his looks and covers Alexei's hand where it grips the stuffed animal tight applying more pressure.

Its futile, but the gesture is kind none the less.

The American half drags, half carries Alexei off between two closed stalls out of the way. He helps sit Alexei down with his back against one of the stalls. 

"H-how bad?" He asks eyeing the stuffed animal wondering what horrors are hiding behind it. Alexei breathes in and out for the first time since he spotted Grigori. 

"It doesn't hurt."

It doesn't hurt. It should hurt, it should really hurt-but it doesn't. 

It must be shock, he should be grateful to pass to the other side without pain. He isn't that lucky, and he knows it. He takes a deep breath and still feels nothing. 

Before he can question it he pulls the roadrunner away from his body on the exhale.

"What are you doing?! You have to keep pressure on it!" Murray cries out ripping off his over shirt with intent to use it as a makeshift bandage. 

He doesn't get the chance because when the stuffed animal falls to the side it doesn't reveal a blood soaked shirt. There is no gaping wound. There is nothing but the white expanse of his shirt.

"I-I felt it. I heard it." The Russian whispers confused and he moves his hands across his shirt before pulling it up enough to reveal unbroken skin beneath. It doesn't make any sense. Grigori is not one to show mercy, he definitely shot to kill. He couldn't have missed, not at such close range.

Murray's hands join his own feeling for an unseen wound. A wound that doesn't exist despite all logic. They raise their heads to look at one another in wonder. The panic in Murray's eyes has faded and has been replaced with confusion. His unlikely American friend looks down at the stuffed animal and Alexei follows his gaze.

Murray turns the stuffed animal around and they both clearly see the entry and exit bullet holes that leak stuffing. He lifts it up and that's when they both notice the flask.

The beautiful red, white, and blue flask. The one with a gaping bullet hole. The one that saved Alexei's life.

Alexei moves shaking hands over and picks up the flask. Holds it up and twists it around to see the impressive damage done to the front, and only minor denting to the back. 

Hollow points are top class for rending and tearing into flesh and clothes. But metal? Not so much. A regular bullet could have easily gone through the flimsy metal the flask is made out of. A regular bullet would have done its job and killed its target. 

Alexei brings the flask to his lips and kisses it. Kisses the torn container decorated with the flag of his mother country's enemy. The irony is not lost on either of them. 

They both break into relived laughter just this side of panicked after the emotional roller coaster before Murray stops suddenly. Ever the paranoid type he is the first to remember the danger they are in despite escaping this close call.

"Shit, Hopper!" He exclaims wiping the smiles off their faces. "Stay here and pretend to be dead, I gotta warn them." 

Alexei pulls the stuffed animal back into his lap and nods seriously. He watches Murray run off before letting himself fall back boneless against the stall. He forces his face to go slack and counts his breaths. He can't be found still alive, he won't get a second chance like this again.

The waiting is terrifying - not knowing what is going on around him with his eyes closed. Not knowing if he'll be discovered and dragged off to be shot again once they realize their mistake. 

Not knowing if his new friends will make it. If Murray will be able to warn them in time.

It feels like hours go by before he hears the woman call his name. He reopens his eyes to be greeted by the sight of Joyce and Murray. 

"The big one?" Alexei asks Murray as he helps him to his feet. 

"He's distracting them, we need to get to the car." Murray answers as they move quickly back out of the fair. 

The tiny woman stops in her tracks and turns around calling out to some man. Alexei doesn't understand what she says to the unknown man and is surprised when she slams a mean right hook into the man's face. He is doubly surprised when she grips the taller man by the arms and knees him in the balls. 

Hard.

She turns and walks away from the man and stomps back towards them. Alexei and Murray move out of her way so she can pass between them and share a silent look.

No wonder the big one with the gun listens to her. Such a scary woman in so small of a package.

They get in the convertible, drive around back just in time to watch the big one stumble out back behind a ride calling to them. The scary woman barely slows down long enough for him to jump over the side door into the passenger seat before they are speeding off. 

There is blood staining the big man's lips and he is breathing heavily. Impressive to have gotten away from some of Russia's finest with his life, let alone so few injuries. 

Alexei's first impressions of these three have all proven to be very wrong. They seem like stereotypical dumb Americans, just like in all the propaganda - and they do act so childish so often. But when it came down to serious business? Each of them showed integrity, ingenuity and a fierce determination to beat the odds stacked against them.

The scientist's musings are interrupted by static from a radio. The big man quickly reaches and grabs the radio he must have pulled off of one of the strike team members and everyone holds their breath straining to listen to the chatter.

"I repeat -- We've found the children. They are still in the mall. Lower level. Keep all entrances locked down. I repeat -- keep all entrances locked down." 

The scary woman asks Murray some questions and he responds in English. Some how the two Americans' faces become even more grim at the news. Alexei can only guess that they are worried that is could br their children. He shares a look with Murray, what the odds that it would be their children out of the hundreds of children in the town?

Murray says something to the mother in a soft tone meant to soothe. She replies back with a strong voice as she cranks the wheel and turns the car around. 

The silence that falls on them in the car is heavy, no wants to be the one to break it. The dark and empty road stretches out before them as the miles fly by. Its not long at all before they arrive at the mall. 

The big man motions them to stay behind him as he pulls out his gun and they all get out of the car and advance on the mall. The entrance to the food court is unguarded and with the radio silent they have no way of knowing where the strike team members have gone.

They approach quietly and encounter no resistance, the reason is quickly evident when they come across dead Russians along the way. 

"Who could have killed them? I would have thought your government to make a bigger show when they came." Alexei questions Murray in a whisper.

"This wasn't us, there would be helicopters, tanks, soldiers everywhere if it was. This was something else." Murray answers with a worried expression. 

As they get deeper into the mall the sounds of voices carry over to them. They don't sound like adults, and they sound worried and hurt. The other two start walking faster and taking less care to be silent in their urgency. They round a corner and get to the straight away to the center of the mall when they spot them.

There is a bunch of kids scattered on the ground in a group. Most are sitting or hunched over another one that is crying out in pain and anger. Her cry grows louder and louder when suddenly something makes the other kids fall backwards away from her.

There is a disgusting squish sound as something hits the ground after flying or being flung from the group of kids. Alexei watches in horror as it wiggles then lurches towards them. It makes unnatural sounds as it crawls leaving a trail of bloody slime behind it. 

The big man doesn't even hesitate before stomping his big boot on it sending gore splattering out underneath his shoe. It is then that the children notice their arrival and the relief on their faces, the blossom of hope shinning in their eyes. . .is heavy on Alexei. He can feel the weight of responsibility settling around his shoulders, the responsibility over these children. To save them. To make everything alright.

He's not prepared for this. Never has been, his life has been one whirlwind after another for the last year desperately trying to solve the problem of opening the doorway between worlds to save his own life. 

The children rush over to the two parents with a flurry of rapid questions. It's like watching ants swarm pieces of food, the way they cling to the adults. Desperate for them.

It's overwhelming and Alexei finds himself partly collapsing down onto a nearby bench. He can't watch the hopeful bounce in the children's steps as they all but dance around the parents. He lets his head fall down onto his palms hiding his face from the outside world for a moment. 

He just needs a moment. Just one to catch his breath, to not have to worry about anyone else and process the last hour. 

He had nearly died. The thought strikes him and his hands start to shake so he runs his fingers through his hair to ground himself. He did almost died not an hour ago, his hopes of quietly defecting are gone, gone, gone. He's now part of some fool hardy Rambo level shit plan to save the world???? 

What's worse? He gets budget Rambo who's gone soft around the middle instead of a true red blooded American action hero. With a tiny angry mom for a side kick? This is a sick joke, there is no way they'll make it. No way they won't die at the first security check.

By now the whole base will know that he defected so there's no chance of talking their way through. Guns blazing with just the four of them? Suicide. He doesn't see anyway this is going to work and yet if what they say about the doorway bringing about the destruction of the human race as we know it? 

What choice do any of them really have? 

Soviets do not cry, they do not show such weakness- but never before in his life has the scientist wanted to more. He's just a scientist! He's no hero, no Rambo! He's just a regular guy caught up in this disaster. He doesn't want to die, he's already come so close today, but when they follow through with this plan - which they will - they will die.

They will all die, and these children will die. Their friends will all die and the human race will end. Alexei tugs at his hair in frustration at the hopelessness of their situation.

He feels the weight of someone sitting down next to him and lifts his eyes to see that it is Murray. The other man looks at him with a soft expression nudging his shoulder with his own. Alexei is grateful for the weight and heat of another person against his side right now. It drags him out from the cold, bleakness of his spiraling thoughts.

"Is this crazy? Yes." Murray begins softly, "Are we going to die? Probably." He says flippantly with a sardonic twist to his lips that wrings an answering smile from the Russian. 

"But are we going to fail? No. Do you know why?" Alexei shakes his head eyeing the gleam in the other man's eyes. "Because we are Americans! This is what we do: The impossible! A bunch of dirt farmers went against the strongest colonial nation with nothing but some gunpowder and a whole lot of attitude and what did we do? We won." 

"Do you know why we won? Because we don't give up, we never surrender! Because we are fighting for what is right, for our fellow man. Our goals are worth more than our lives and we fight hard, we fight dirty - but most of all - we fight to win." Murray tells him conspiratorially with a laugh.

"Are you ready to really be an American? Would you fight by my side comrade?" Alexei is moved by the sincerity of the other man's ridiculously American words. 

"Da." Alexei agrees with a smile knocking his shoulder into the other man who grins manically. "This is crazy, but maybe since we are crazy too it will work yes?" 

"That's the spirit! See, you have the heart of an American already!" His American friend slings his arm over his shoulders pulling him against his side more in what Alexei has observed to be an acceptable 'hug' between men for Americans. He winds his own arm around the other man's waist and squeezes in return.

He must do it correctly as the once manic grin turns brilliant. Alexei can't help but think to himself that if he is to die today, it might not be so bad with this man at his side.

He is distracted from their camaraderie as the tones of voices grow hushed and tense around them. He looks over to Murray silently asking what is going on with a look. Murray leans in and starts translating snippets, and pieces of the rapid fire conversation happening nearby.

". . .30 feet tall. . ."

". . .made of melted people. . ."

". . .weapon against El. . ."

". . .destroyed cabin. . ."

". . .hive mind. . ."

It's worse than he feared. As if it weren't enough that they have to sneak into a heavily guarded facility full of his old comrades, there are giant comic book monsters now? 

". . .close the gate the monsters all die. . ." 

Alexei focuses in on that. It seems they will have to, really have to go succeed no matter the cost. He turns to Murray holding up a hand to interrupt his translations mid word.

"Give me the maps I drew and translate for me. We must tell them all our plan to make it explode." Murray runs off with a nod back to the car where they had left the drawings. 

Alexei observes the Americans all around him without the distraction of their words. He counts 11 of the children, 4 of which look old enough to maybe pass as young adults. The rest range from high school age to a very small girl with a very big voice. 

The big man is sitting on a bench with what must be his daughter laying across the bench in his lap. The big man's hands are gentle as he cleans out a gash on the young girl's head. He has his arm around her as if he could protect her from the world even as his sad eyes show the truth of his failure to due so.

None of them are safe, least of all her. If Murray's translation is to be believed this young girl has fought and beat the 'mind killer' before with her brain? Even Murray's words seemed uncertain about it. 

Alexei takes off his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. It doesn't matter, the little girl is clearly scared and hurt. Not her, nor her brain will be of any use to them for what they must do. Alexei replaces his glasses on his nose and makes effort to avoid staring at the father and daughter in their vulnerable moment.

"Yoohoo!" Murray calls out storming back in waving the papers around to get everyone's attention. It works beautifully and all the chatter dies down. He waves everyone over to a nearby table in the food court so he can explain the plan to everyone else.

He begins explaining the plan with Alexei interrupting with minor corrections a few times. When he mistakes the scale of the drawings before Alexei can correct it the smallest child with the loudest voice opens her mouth and corrects Murray herself. Alexei doesn't catch what else she says but her expression and Murray's makes it clear it isn't nice.

"What is going on?" Alexei asks more than a little confused about what this little girl could possibly have to say about their plan.

"She says she's been there before, that her and those other three had successfully sneaked into the base and that our plan would fail and we would all die horribly." Murray explains gesturing at the two older children dressed as sailors and the curly haired boy.

Alexei blinks at that and turns back around to reevaluate the little girl. She meets his gaze and looks completely unimpressed by his scrutiny. 

The curly haired boy interrupts and takes the drawings from Murray and draws a circle around the storage room. Alexei bumps his shoulder into Murray to remind him to translate once the child has finished speaking.

"He says that we can bypass most of the guards by going through the ventilation system to arrive directly at the weapon. He says that he and the little girl have done it and could show us the way." 

A smile blooms on Alexei's face, he never thought about the ventilation system! It's genius! 

"That could work!" Alexei exclaims and Murray translates but the larger man opens his mouth and gets into an argument with the curly haired boy. Murray tells him that Hop doesn't want the kids to help.

"Why not? It's a better plan that what we had." Alexei argues.

"He's being a dad, worrying about the kid's safety."

"They won't be safe either way. Especially not if we fail then the whole world is doomed anyway."

"I know, I know. I agree one hundred percent with you but getting that through his thick skull is going to be difficult." Murray says with a sigh. "I'll try beating it into his head." 

The scientist's eyes dart back and forth as he follows the argument between the two. So far Murray's ability to talk sense into the bigger man has had better success than expected, he can only hope their luck holds and that he'll see reason.

The big police man arms himself with an assault rifle off the body of one of the guards. He grabs a radio and shoves it into the chest of the curly haired boy. 

Whatever he says to the boy sparks another argument that goes back and forth until the large man lets out a deep sigh and the boy's face breaks out in a triumphant smile. The boy dressed as a sailor with the beat up face speaks up and the defeated look on the cop's face only grows before he shouts something back and tosses the kid the keys to the convertible.

Alexei pulls Murray to the side and asks what was decided. The balding man informs him that the children are going to still navigate for them but via a large radio stationed on some hill far away from the mall. Relief fills the scientist hearing that the bull headed man would not stubborn them to death.

"How are we going to split up? I know exactly how to destroy the facility, but I do not know English to communicate with the children."

"Shit. Let me ask Hop." Murray begins speaking rapidly with Hop and the woman, Joyce. It again devolves into a heated argument between the two parents. They really should have taken Murray's advice and just fucked already, their sexual frustration is beyond out of hand at this point.

"Tell them to shut the hell up if they are arguing over the woman not coming with us." Alexei yells out surprising them all. "None of us are safe, there is no part of this that will be safe." Murray complies and begins translating while Alexei talks.

"I'm just a scientist, I cannot fight, I have never even fired a gun- already this tiny woman has showed more ferocity and ingenuity than I have. Than any of us have, I did not know America was so similar to the USSR in undervaluing the fairer sex." 

The big man goes red in the face and opens his mouth but Alexei cuts him off with raised hand.

"That doesn't matter, none of this matters. What matters is that we get this done and get it done quick before its too late and the doorway opens. Every minute we waste arguing could bring about our destruction. Its simple we all go. Better odds in bigger numbers. The only thing we need to figure out is who is going where and doing what."

There is a beat of silence after Murray finishes translating before the small loud girl says something with a surprised smile and offers her hand up in a high five. The Russian gives her a high five and the sailor girl claps. 

The policeman opens and shuts his mouth a few times before shaking his head and Alexei knows he's won. 

They decide with minimal arguing that Alexei will join The policeman and the woman while Murray will go alone through the ventilation system so that each team has someone fluent in Russian in case they are discovered and can try to talk their way out of a painful and slow death.

"They will know me as a traitor by now, I will need to wear a disguise." Alexei tells Murray and both their gazes drop to the dead specialists in black on the ground. They look back up at each other sharing a smile.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" 

"Da." 

They both move quickly to disguise themselves in the black outfits of the special unit guards. It's genius. Grigori's special unit has free reign to move about the facility unquestioned by all but the highest authority. Of course they want to not be found, but it never hurts to be prepared.

The children have all been sent off with their respective tasks by the time the two of them have gotten changed. They waste no more time and quickly move out to the elevator. 

"I'm nervous." Alexei admits during the long elevator ride. "I've never, I don't know how to." Alexei starts and stops, "I'm worried I'll blow our cover." 

Murray puts a hand on his shoulder and gives it a squeeze.

"It's easy, act like an asshole. If you act like you are tough shit and in charge it is human nature to not question it." Alexei pats the hand on his shoulder in thanks and squares his jaw. He can do this.

The elevator doors open and instead of the empty corridor they all wished for there are four armed guards.

"Stop right there!" The guards scream at them weapons already aimed at them. Alexei freezes but Murray, ever quick on his feet is already in action.

"What do you think you are doing? Can't you see we have the prisoners under control already?" The guards' guns tilt down ever so slightly at the commanding tone.

"I thought the escaped prisoners were children?" One of the guards questions. 

"Da, these are their accomplices. We picked them up from the interrogation intel." The policeman and the woman are cowering in fear with their arms behind their backs as if they were bound really selling the story. 

"We are on a tight schedule so stop wasting out time unless you want to be the one to explain why we are late to Grigori." Alexei drawls from the back like he's one part pissed off at the lower ranked guards harassment and one part amused at the hell they would catch from Grigori for interfering with his team's operations. 

Throwing out the boogeyman's name tips the scale and the guards all glance at each other nervously and Alexei can see in their eyes that they won't risk angering the hot headed leader of the special team.

The large policeman shoves Murray to the side and opens fire on the unwitting guards slaughtering them in mere seconds. Alexei stands there shocked at the sudden violence and unnecessary death.

Murray yells out with a shaking voice arguing with the policeman but Alexei can't take his eyes off the dead men on the ground. The youngest of them, Renant, barely a man by any one's standards. Just dead. Lying there in a growing pool of his own blood.

Renant had confessed to Alexei one night while it was his turn to take watch over the lead scientist. He confessed to not understanding what they were doing here so far from home and that he was afraid of it sometimes. Alexei had told him not to worry, that he was a very good scientist and he wouldn't let the machine explode and kill people like his predecessor had.

The young soviet could barely grow peach fuzz, his life ahead of him - but not anymore. His once bright eyes are dull, and his expression is forever frozen in terror. There is no future for this honest young man. His death was senseless and unnecessary. 

Someone pulls on his arm, dragging him out of the elevator but he can't look away from those dead eyes. They haunt him. They call him traitor and he knows if they somehow manage to not die horribly on this mission that they will always haunt him. 

A hand grabs his chin and turns his head, forcing him to look away from Renant's accusing dead stare. Murray appears in his vision, so close that his face is all that he can see. Murray's other hand joins moves to hold the side of Alexei's face. 

Its warm. His hands, they are so warm. It chases the cold claws of death away from Alexei's chest. Murray's lips are moving but it takes time before the cloud of panic recedes enough for Alexei to understand what is being said.

"Just look at me okay? It's not your fault, it's not their faults. This was just wrong place wrong time. I wish it hadn't happened but it did and what we have to do? It's too important to think about this now. You understand?" 

Murray's voice is so gentle, and it hurts. It hurts because he doesn't deserve it, but he he needs it. Alexei squeezes his eyes shut and nods his head that he understands. Murray wipes away tears with his thumb that Alexei hadn't even known he had shed until this moment. 

The Russian scientist reopens his eyes meeting the eccentric American's and finds that they too are full of regret. His unlikely friend has always talked loudly and confidently but for the first time he seems as lost and out of his depth as the timid scientist. His eyes are not that of man who has killed. 

This was the first time he's seen death first hand. First time he's watched the light fade away from someone's eyes. It changes you, Alexei knows how it changed him to watch his mentor Dr. Chazov being strangled to death by Grigori's hand. 

Death is common enough in the USSR, but for appearances sake they are careful to keep it discrete. You know people die all around you all the time, but it happens in the shadows. The boogeymen will come and take you away if you step out of line, he was raised to know this just like all other children in the nation state.

Last year he had watched Chazov's legs kick out futilely, heard the choked gurgles as he struggled for breath that would not come. It was the first the sheltered scientist had seen of death first hand. It killed a part of his child-like wonder of the world. Of the possibilities that the gateway between worlds would open up

He didn't care anymore. Fear had gripped his heart as he was told that he would suffer the same fate as his mentor if he did not succeed in a year. This project consumed his every waking moment, he lived and breathed it. 

And now he must destroy it.

Alexei reaches out and mirrors Murray's hold on him and pulls the other man's face to his own knocking their foreheads together accidently.

"Let's end this, once and for all." Murray's hand slides back to gently grip the back of Alexei's neck and press their heads together in a far more gentle manor than Alexei had. They stay that way for a moment before Murray releases his hold.

They step back from another, both taking a steadying breath. Murray's eyes promise that they will talk later. After it is all over and that they have won. It brings a small smile to the Russian's face. At least he has one person on his side here, its more than he could have hoped for.

The woman and man change into the dead guard's clothes while Alexei and Murray stand watch to make sure no one is coming. Their uniforms have bloody holes and poorly fit the two parents but with any luck they will pass at a glance.

Alexei is no longer foolish enough to hope that they will not run into any more people along the way. 

Murray drives the cart with Alexei at his side as he had to take off his glasses for the disguise. As the lead scientist he is well known to be nearly blind without his glasses his near sight is so bad. He had the woman's help before they left with his hair. She had slicked it back with water to flatten his curls.

She had given him a thumbs up before they left the mall, he can only hope that he too will pass a casual inspection. His hopes are put to the test 10 minutes later when they arrive at the gate. 

Alexei can tell that it is Lt. Motov on duty simply by the size of the man, he leans over casually to whisper it to Murray before they pull up to a stop.

"How can I help you?" Motov asks glancing over Alexei for a moment before landing on Murray.

"Extra security, we don't need a repeat of earlier." Murray replies. 

"Fucking children in the facility." Motov says with a shake of his head before turning away to open the gate. He waves them through sending smoke trailing from the lit cigarette in his hand. Murray drives them through the doors and parks but its not until the doors shut behind them that the bubble of tension surrounding them all bursts. 

Murray lets the parents out of the back of the vehicle and they all move to the fuel storage area. Murray lifts open the hatch to the large ventilation duct and lets out a sigh.

He gives instructions to the other two before turning to Alexei to go over how to destroy the power grid one more time just to be safe.

"It will be easy, just rip them all out and it will be ready to 'boom' once we get the keys." He reassures Murray.

"And you, my friend, just 'fake it til you make it'. They will just smile and nod if questioned, you are the real authority and if what you say is true not many would dare question it." Murray claps him on the shoulder before climbing down the hatch and disappearing from view. 

Time has a strange way of stretching out when one is waiting for something, Alexei thinks to himself. He spends most of the long minutes observing the big man and tiny woman dancing around one another. He doesn't understand their words but their body language is an open book.

Despite the incessant arguing between the two since they came barging into Alexei's life, they can be sweet to one another. The big man is always sitting, leaning or something else to make himself seem smaller around the woman. Now, for example, he is sitting on the lowest step so he is the one looking up to her.

Men too often are towering over women, using their positions of power to their advantage. It's very interesting that this perfect example of a towering macho man instead chooses to place her in a position above him. As if he is the one who should be below her.

True, that she is indeed a formidable woman. Strong and braver than many men would be when facing such danger as they all are. If any woman were to be deserving, it is her.

But that's not all that it is.

It is clear that her bravery is not the only reason the policeman places her in a position above himself. Their sexual chemistry is plain to see, but seeing them together like this. Gentle with one another, its clear that she holds a place in his heart.

No wonder they don't just fuck and get it over with. Alexei cannot fault the man for his hesitance to change their admittedly strange dynamic. 

The bigger and angrier the man the softer and more vulnerable his emotions are. Decidedly not true for some sick creatures like Gigori, but more often than not it rings true.

Take Murray for example, the man who threatened his life with a double barreled shot gun when they first met. Loud, rude, brash, and yet he upended his entire life to help out his friend. His tone is rude, his language crude, but the feelings behind his words? Genuine.

There is no reason that man should care for Alexei, a Russian traitor literally shoved onto his doorstep and into his formally quiet life. He should have been as rude as the large man, justified in getting physical and demanding answers.

And yet, he was kind when translating. Patient when his understanding of scientific terms was limited. There was no reason for him to treat the defector with any kindness, not when his own people barely treated Alexei as human. Alexei has always been a tool, for his government, for the project. Lead scientist is no great honor, it just means your head is on the chopping block first when time tables are not met.

As a child Alexei had always loved science, building, and discovering new things. He had hopes and dreams of becoming a great scientist who's name would go down in history. That future generations of scientists would learn of his deeds from textbooks in school.

The reality of being a scientist in the USSR during the cold war left his childhood dreams dead in the dirt. No one would know his name. No one would know of the great feat of science and engineering he accomplished to get the machine to open the doorway between worlds.

Just like no one will remember his mentor, Dr. Chazov, the original pioneer of this newly founded inter-dimensional science. None will know how genius the man was, how he walked Alexei, his underling assistant through his theories so he could understand it with ease. 

None save Alexei will know that he perished in a facility, not unlike this one, by the hands of those who should have been there to protect him. 

Static over the radio and Murray's voice pulls him from his thoughts. There is more static and a child's voice. They go back and forth for a minute, Alexei watches the two American's faces but they do not seem more any more worried than before so he can only assume it was a call for directions. 

This happens a few more times until the next time Murray's voice comes over the radio the large man stands up and starts pacing with a tense look on his face. He must have arrived at the eletrical room. 

The tension in the room has Alexei join the large man in pacing the room on high alert. Soon they will get the signal to begin their leg of the mission. They need to be ready.

Alexei worries his lip as the seconds slip by. Did he explain how to do it well enough? Are his drawings easy enough to understand? 

Murray's voice come over the radio again full of confidence and crazy laughter. The policeman gives Alexei a nod that he returns. Its show time as they say.

The next second and then the klaxons are going off - their cue - they rush to the door using the card key to gain access to the next level. They get to an intersection and wait with baited breath as a squad runs by. The policeman motions with his head for them to go and Alexei takes point in case they are questioned.

They jog past straggler guards who pay them no mind in their hurry to catch up with the squad that has already passed. They run down the hall and swing a right before arriving at the stairs leading up to the keys and the control room. 

As they approach the door a guard burst out surprising them and being surprised himself. 

"Did Mikhail send for you?" The guard Alexei recognizes as corporal Baranov questions them.

"Da, go. We got this covered." Alexei grounds out making his voice rough to allude suspicion. The corporal gives him a salute and high tails it down the stairs. Alexei uses the key card to enter the room and rushes down the hall to the locked safe. He enters planck's constant and retrieves the the briefcase.

He quickly opens the briefcase and hands one key to the policeman and keeps the other for himself. They proceed deeper into the control room and with a tight nod opens the door to the main controls area. His fellow scientist look back at the open door in surprise and fear at the three armed troops.

"Everyone out, situation nine! We've been compromised, head to the escape tunnels!" Alexei yells out in his most commanding voice and there is no hesitation as his orders are followed. 

Once the room is empty the tiny woman stumbles forward staring at the opening gateway. A look of undisguised horror on her face. What suffering the other world has brought her to make her look at it so? Alexei can only hope to never find out.

The policeman says something to her gently that snaps her out of it. She blinks a few times then nods her head as a familiar look of determination takes over her features. She moves to watch the door while Alexei and the policeman take up positions at the two consoles.

They insert the keys and look at one another. "On three" 

"On three" Alexei agrees with a nod.

"One

Two

Three."

They turn the keys as one causing the machine to overload sending energy arcs cascading around the machine that strikes an unlucky staff member to dust. The machine emits a high pitched whine that grows louder and louder until it peaks and the whole system gives.

The explosion is blinding. Alexei looks away as the room goes white. He reopens them as the light fades behind his eyes, he watches as the gateway begins to seal up. 

The small woman yells something with exuberance in her voice and surprises everyone when she jumps up throwing herself at the policeman. He catches her of course, and holds her close to him as they embrace. It's sweet and Alexei cannot fight the smile that grows watching them.

It is then, of course, when Grigori chooses to barrel through the door intent on killing them. Just when things seem to finally be looking up that monster appears from the shadows to ruin it all. To take your hopes and dreams and crush them beneath the heal of his combat boots.

But not fucking today. 

Not this time.

Alexei is the only one who sees Grigori approach before its too late. The other two are too wrapped up in one another, quite literally. He sees the raised gun, the same gun that had shot him only a few short hours before aimed at the two wrapped up in an embrace.

He doesn't hesitate.

He squeezes the trigger on his rifle and lets loose a burst of gun fire into Grigori. The sound of gunfire shocks the other two back into a reality beyond one another. The policeman twists his body to use it as a shield for the woman as he raises his own assault rifle at the temporarily stunned Russian killer advancing on him.

Alexei knows he didn't kill the boogeyman, he knows all about the bullet proof vest he always wears, but its not like he's ever fired a gun before. He's lucky he even hit him with some of the bullets. He curses the language barrier because how can he warn the policeman?

The large man says something and opens fire shooting Grigori right in the head painting the walls in splotches of red. Frankly its far more disgusting than movies made it out to be, but now they can live another minute, another day. It means that Alexei won't have to die in a shit hole underground Russian base.

Oh good. He didn't have to warn the policeman after all.

The gunfire and gore seems to ruin the mood between the two as the woman hops off the large man straitening her shirt as she regains her feet. With the ruse up and the base in chaos the policeman takes point as they leave the room to go meet up with Murray. 

The machine's violent disassembly did a fantastic job of clearing the way for them so that they encounter no trouble. Murray meets them half way and ushers them towards the ventilation system and freedom. 

Murray takes the lead and guides them through the maze only stopping twice on his way back to be reminded of the way by the children over the radio. Alexei is filled with a mix of nervous hope and fear at what will await them at the end of the tunnel. 

Will word have spread of an evacuation? The machine, the entire purpose behind this facility is melting through the ground at this very moment so they would have no reason to stay right? 

The radio goes off with a burst of static and the child's voice yells something fast in an excited tone. 

"The cavalry is coming." Murray explains with an excited smile. Alexei smiles back weakly, more than a little scared of what that will mean for him. Murray gives him a questioning look but Alexei just shakes his head, they need to keep going.

They finally make it to the hatch that leads to the storage room after long minutes of crawling through the air ducts. Murray lifts it back open and climbs out, Alexei is next to follow him and the other two are right behind. The lights are still down in emergency mode and the room is empty.

It seems his former comrades followed protocol and fled via the tunnels. They share a collective sigh of relief and move towards the door just as the door bursts open and half a dozen armed men storm in.

"We're Americans! AMERICANS! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Murray shouts pleading with them. They all drop their weapons and have their arms up in surrender. Alexei closes his eyes and prays that his fast talking friend is able to convince his military to look past their Russian uniforms.

There is lots of shouting that Alexei doesn't understand but he just mirrors their actions and hopes for the best. They drop to their knees and put their arms behind their backs and are cuffed none too gently. Fair considering.

They are lead down the hall and brought to a man who is decidedly non-military but clearly in charge. The large policeman calls out to the mysterious man and its clear as they converse that they know one another aren't are on unfriendly terms. 

As they talk a military man comes forward and removes the handcuffs from them all. Alexei rubs at his wrists nervously. Is this the contact the policeman has within the government? Are they on good enough terms that they can negotiate the terms of his defection?

Alexei wants to ask Murray what is going on but he's afraid to bring attention to the fact that he is NOT American like Murray had told the soldiers. He settles for bumping his shoulder into Murray's drawing his attention. 

Murray's eyes go comically wide as he looks at Alexei, perhaps just now realizing how delicate of a situation the former soviet scientist is in at this very moment surrounded by armed American troops in a top secret Russian base in their own homeland.

Murray says something to the policeman and suddenly both the policeman and the woman are speaking rapidly to the man in charge. Alexei struggles to keep his eyes open, he wants nothing more to close them and pretend his fate isn't being decided right now without any say of his own.

He hears the uncomfortable rustling of the soldiers around him, clearly they don't like the news. The three Americans who turned his life upside down talk rapidly and argue with the man in charge who keeps glancing over at Alexei with a tired look on his face. 

Alexei doesn't realize he lost the fight to keep his eyes open until he feels someone grab his arm. He startles for a moment then quickly forces himself limp, but when his eyes open it is Murray who has grabbed his arm.

"Okay so I've got good news and bad news my friend." Murray starts with a twisted smile, "Hop's inside man believes you, and he wants to have you join us as an American. . ." 

"But. . ?" Alexei asks after his friend pauses for a second too long.

"But, its not just him calling the shots. You're going to have to have your story checked out. You'll have to be held in custody while he arranges a, how do you say it, a meeting? A sentencing? I don't know the Russian word, but it will take time for them to check your story and match it with ours in detail before they decide."

Alexei nods his head slowly accepting his fate. He was not foolish enough to believe the fairy tale ending how Murray had painted it for him in the back seat of the convertible at the fair. Real life is much more messy, moral codes are are but paper against the struggle of power between their two nations. 

He's seen and felt it first hand after all.

"Okay." He acknowledges with a steadier voice than he thought himself capable of. He feels almost numb to all after everything he's gone through in the last. . .two days? 

Has it really only been two days? He's been through so much it feels like longer, a lot longer. 

"Don't worry, they'll get it sorted sooner than you think. I don't know how but Hopper has a lot of pull with this guy, saved his ass last year with this whole gate stuff I guess." Murray says trying to give comfort. 

Alexei just nods as he doesn't trust his voice to not betray his fear. Murray telegraphs raising his arm to throw over Alexei's shoulder for the soldiers so they won't accidentally shoot thinking they are up to something. Alexei leans into the embrace allowing himself to let go for just a moment and let the other man support some of the immense weight upon his head. 

The scientist loses himself for a time in the other man's arms. Let's the feeling of safety around him take hold. Burns this moment into his memories, for he is sure to need them in the coming days. Weeks. Months. 

All too soon Murray gives his shoulders a squeeze and tells him its time softly next to his ear. Alexei takes one last shuddering breath before leaning back and extracting himself from the impromptu hug. Murray steps back as a soldier takes his place holding handcuffs.

Alexei looks to Hopper who watches with regret in his eyes, like he knew something like this would happen - but his hands are tied just as surely as Alexei's are right now. The tiny woman seems surprised and angry that it didn't work out like a fairy tale. Alexei sees the way the large man has a hand on her arm as if holding her back from the outburst she so clearly wants to make.

Alexei offers them up a small smile, touched that they care for him. A stranger, an enemy turned unlikely ally. How was it that Murray explained it when Alexei questioned, late at night out of idle curiosity, how the unlikely attraction between the two came to be?

Ah, bound by shared trauma, that's what it was. Just like they all are now. Its weird to think how powerful that bond is, and how much he is grateful for it at this moment. 

Its no small comfort to know that if this doesn't go well at least these three will remember him. He won't just disappear as if he never existed in the first place.

The man in charge says something with a motion of his hands and the soldiers are leading them back out of the base. Alexei is lost deep in his own head, the trip back to the surface is a complete blur. Its as if between one blink and the next he is breathing in fresh air.

Maybe his last breath of fresh air, who knows what the future holds for a traitor like him.

He is ushered towards a black helicopter and his heart thunders in his chest. This is it. Once he steps foot on that helicopter he'll never never return. He can't shake the feeling of panic as it takes over and his feet stop moving. 

"Hey its okay, I'll go with you. They're gonna need a translator, you won't have to go alone." Murray promises from the side as he steps into Alexei's field of view. 

"Your services will not be required, nor are they desired." Perfectly accented Russian comes over the sound of the spinning helicopter blades as a petite woman steps off the helicopter. 

Even in the dark her beauty is plain to see. Perfectly up kept red hair under her green beret accented by bright red lipstick.

A spy. There is no question; she must be to have flawless Russian with just the right hint of Moscow accent. 

The former soviet turns to look back at his friend and sees that they have come to the same conclusion. Alexei offers him a genuine smile full of the gratitude he feels for the man.

"Thank you for letting me know what it is like to be an American, even if it was just for one day." 

"Thank you for showing me that not all Russians are commie bastards, some of you are pretty okay." Murray offers back with a slightly brittle smile.

He is led onto the helicopter and sat between two bulky men in black. The last thing he sees is Murray giving him a salute before a black bag is placed over his head.

***********

There is no way to keep track of the passing of time where Alexei is kept. His world is down to a barren 6 by 8 concrete cell lit with a flickering florescent light. There are 'day' and 'night' cycles with how long the light is on verses off. But its impossible to tell if that's what they really are.

He has no outside stimulus to compare to. The cycles could be any amount of time, longer or shorter to trick him into not even being able to trust how long he's being held captive. It's a sort of trick that he thinks his mother land would delight in pulling.

Every day light cycle he is blind folded and lead to another room, just as small as his cell and just as plain. The chain connecting the cuffs around his wrists will be attached to the table with very little give. 

He will sit there. And wait. And wait. And wait until a random amount of time will pass and the beautiful spy will enter and ask him questions. Some are questions he has answered hundreds of times, as if they expect him to slip up and say the truth if they just ask enough times.

If he were lying it would probably work, but he's not said a single lie. He's given them detailed information on the USSR's facilities back in the homeland, explained how they learned of the gate from a captured American who had worked on a project related to it years prior. 

He gives them everything, holds nothing back and yet never a word of when they will release him. If they will.

This is the 25th time he's been lead in this room, if the cycles are days its been quite a while he's been in a place that doesn't exist. He begins to wonder if he'll ever leave it, or if they will keep him forever as he knows too much to be trusted. 

To be fair, he is a defector after all. A traitor. Why should anyone trust someone like him?

Today is different, when he is led in the woman is already waiting for him at the table. She looks up at him and worries her lip as if she is thinking something over. She flicks her gaze up to the guard and tilts her head slightly.

The guard takes out his keys and unlocks the cuffs from Alexei's wrists. It's the first time in 25 cycles he's had them off, he had to wear them even in his sleep. He can't help himself and immediately rubs at the sore red lines around his wrists as he warily eyes the red head wondering what game it will be today.

Her lips curve into a faintly predatory smile.

"Don't be afraid, come take a seat. We have much to discuss today." She beckons him teasingly. 

He's learned to not trust her moods, she is a master interrogator. Not with force or pain like his mother country favors, but with emotional manipulation. She knows just how to act, how to sound to trick a person into rlthinking she is on your side. 

He doesn't know if the Americans are 'buttering him up' as they say right now and that they will move on to more forceful methods of interrogation or not. All he knows is it doesn't matter one way or another, there is no deep secret for him to tell. He's told all time and time again. 

Maybe after they spill his blood, break a few bones they will finally believe him. He hopes it doesn't come to that, hopes that the policeman's insider in the government's sway will spare him that. 

Most of all he hopes that he won't die in another country's poorly lit secret facility. The irony of such a fate is not lost on the former soviet, but he hopes it does not come to pass. 

Its with a heavy heart that he sits across from the dangerous woman. She opens a black briefcase and pulls out a folder full of papers. She flips open the folder revealing the papers. Its all written in English and is as good as gibberish to the Russian. 

"It seems the higher ups have finally cleared you." She begins without preamble, causing Alexei's heart to lurch in his chest.

"I've been telling them for weeks now that the story you tell is all that you know, that holding you here was pointless and frankly? A waste of my precious time that could be better spent _elsewhere_." She holds up the first page and reads it to him.

Its a non disclosure agreement, that anything and everything related to the Starcourt mall incident shall not be discussed without anyone who was not involved. Failure to comply would result in imprisonment. 

Hope, dangerous hope spreads in Alexei's chest. Could it mean?

She goes on to the next form and explains that as a defector to this side of the war he will be given a new identity as an American citizen. He will never speak of being a former member of the USSR and will be given a tutor in English so that he can pass as an American.

Until he becomes passable in English he will not be allowed out in public without an assigned chaperone. He will periodically be interviewed and questioned by government agents to make sure that he is holding up his end of the deal. Which moves them along for her to explain the last stack of paper work.

The deal is simple: He is on call until he his services are no longer needed as a consultant about the gateway technology. She assures him that the American side of that project has more than learned its lesson about playing with that particular brand of fire, but if what he has said about the Russian side is true?

They won't be so quick to let it go and give up. Especially not now after the Starcourt incident. Sources say that the Russians believe that the US had learned of the base and sent in the special child agents to bring it down from within due to the high value of unlocking power on the other side of the gateway.

They couldn't be more wrong, but there is no telling them that. Even if a fairy waved a wand and ended the cold war over night the distrust between the two nations would take an untold amount of time to heal. There is no way they would believe a message about how the opening the gateway would bring destruction to the entire human race, they would think it a trick to get them to stop trying so the US could keep all the power for themselves.

"Do you agree?" She asks him seriously, as if he would not agree to any deal they saw fit to offer him, let alone one so generous.

"I agree." She gives him a smile, he would like to say its the first genuine smile she has offered him - but wouldn't bet on it.

"You need to sigh here, here and here. Good, now we have to have you put this on for security's sake." She say handing him a blind fold. He ties it around his head and she double checks that it covers his vision completely before grabbing his sleeve and standing.

"Now that that is settled lets get you out of here shall we?" She says as she leads him out of the room. 

He follows her scarcely daring to breathe lest it break the spell. Lest he wake from this dream. 

She leads him through winding corridors to an elevator that goes up and up and up. He really was being kept is some scary underground facility. The doors open with a soft whoosh and she leads him out. They walk together in silence for another few minutes before she stops and he feels her turn to him.

"We're going to go for a long drive so that even a genius like yourself will be unable to figure out your way back. But once you get out of the car you will meet your assigned tutor and guardian for the next few months. You are to obey all of their commands and be on your best behavior." He can hear a smile in her voice as if she knows he's never been the type to misbehave and is teasing him.

"The Dr has put his neck out on the line for you, don't make him regret it understand?"

"Yes Ma'am." He says really meaning it.

She then leads him to a motor vehicle and helps him get situated. The soft give of the seats feels like clouds on his ass and back, he had almost forgotten what comfort felt like after so long in that place. The car starts and they drive, and drive, and drive.

He doesn't know how long they drive for because without even noticing the hum of the engine and the comfort of the seats lulls him into a deeper sleep than he's gotten in. . .he doesn't even remember when. He doesn't even dream, how could he? When what is happening is already a dream?

"Alexei" The sound of his name startles him awake. He opens his eyes and find that someone had taken the blind fold off him while he slept. 

"Your guardian will help you work out the details of your cover story and help you adjust to the American way of life. Try to not think of them as guard, try and think of them as friend. We want you to succeed and flourish here." Alexei can't help a disbelieving look at that.

"Don't look at me like that. Americans were all from somewhere else originally after all." She says with a wink before opening the door and all but shoving the former soviet out the door. She blows him a kiss through the open window as the car drives off. 

Completely off balance Alexei watches at the car drives through a gap in a chain link fence and out of sight. Something about the trees stirs something in his mind, but he's too off balance to put his finger on it. 

This is not what he expected. Just dropped off on someone's door step like a kid being dropped off for a sleep over and that's it?

Alexei turns around to look at where he'll be living for the next who knows how long and his jaw drops.

This can't- This can't be right.

The dull grey paint with seemingly random sections of beige, the camera and the reinforced door.

He knows this place.

Said reinforced door opens and out walks Murray. Alexei doesn't know whats going on. Where is the guardian? Are they waiting inside? Why is he even at Murray's house?

"Murray?" His voice shakes with the hope bubbling in his chest.

Murray approaches with his arms wide open and Alexei is not ashamed to admit he nearly runs into those arms wrapping his own around a man he never thought he would see again.

Something inside the scientist breaks at being held. He had spent so long in the dark, barely touched that even this embrace is almost too much. It's over whelming. In the best of ways.

He sucks in hiccuping breaths fighting to keep composure, fighting and losing by the second. His friend rubs his back soothingly but it just makes it all the harder to hold it in. 

"But I thought-" Alexei can't even finish the question. He pulls back just enough so he can see his friend's face.

"What did I tell you? See they needed my services after all." Murray boasts with a matter of fact attitude.

Alexei feels tears slip lose but his smile is blinding. In Soviet Russia, men don't cry. 

Good thing he's already on his way to becoming American

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Ode To Billy Hargrove](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21676000) by [urisarang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/urisarang/pseuds/urisarang)




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